Songs with instruments uncommon in their genre(s)

[AdamDam]

Are there any songs that you like which feature an instrument that is not commonly used within the genre of music that the song is representative of? Feel free to share!

One example that comes to mind is the track “Manifest” by stoner/sludge/doom metal band Forming the Void, for which the intro features an oud (a fretless, Middle Eastern lute, which is an early ancestor of the guitar). The band said about the oud in an interview with New Noise magazine, “Since our first album, we have wanted to incorporate one in a recording, and the droning-yet-melodic qualities of this song made it a natural fit.” Before listening to this song, I hadn't heard an oud in stoner rock, sludge metal, or doom metal music; however, I think that it sounds great here:

https://open.spotify.com/track/18S9ZH51UTPTpPilA96RPp?si=G1V_tG16TNWBmJMirJC4lg

Cheers!

[Ivan]

Hey @AdamDam, 

Happy to join you on this topic.

Some time ago I found a very interesting project by German electronic musician F.M. Einheit and Danish singer Gry Bagøien. It's called Public Recording and was released in 2000. I became a huge fan and listened to this a lot. Back in the days info was scarce but one fact that impressed me a lot was that in this project were used different sound sources, including such not deriving from musical instruments. This track is an example since Gry used a toy laser pistol in the making of the song:

spotify:track:1iI9OiegUikdPudn83Rzck:small 

Another band comes to my mind, CocoRosie. They use a variety of sound sources for their songs, play different traditional instruments, and mix them with sound created by randomly found objects, mostly children's toys. It's difficult to put CocoRosie in a genre category - they're normally classified as indie folk, but actually represent a never-ending sound experiment. 

spotify:track:0fXwunFhzCKwvcuwfWB7nG:small 

These are my examples, hope they've been interesting! 

[AdamDam]

Thanks for sharing these great examples, @Ivan!

Another band that comes to mind from my listening is the psychedelic rock band The Myrrors, who play a variety of musical instruments that I typically don’t hear in psychedelic rock music. My favorite song of theirs, “Hasta La Victoria,” includes instruments such as bulbul tarang, santoor, tambura, đàn nhị, flute, harmonium, and viola; and I think that these instruments all sound great in this track:

https://open.spotify.com/track/62rR1MWj0FNpd8mNt2Ilku?si=l4JXi1KiQu-xOxXiaMc2Lw

Cheers!

[tynon_1221]

MycoLyco uses "a biodata sonification module to convert charges into resistance into control voltages.. " They hook up electricals to water-shrooms and it produces sound some might call music. https://open.spotify.com/track/3cTEIb0LFdSR5jrCut8gg9?si=0ccF0NjXS9WEGxU7kQpUIQ&utm_source=copy-link